LEWISTON — A nonprofit organization that provides early childhood education and wraparound services for low-income families is expanding as part of the downtown Choice Neighborhoods redevelopment project.

In March, Promise Early Education Center opened its fourth location in Lewiston at 1 College St., the site of the Lewiston Housing Authority’s former administrative offices. The new child care center has four classes for children age 6 weeks to 3 years old. Two were moved from the B Street Health Center building at 57 Birch St. and two are new.

The expansion enables the center to provide for 16 additional children for a total of just over 250 across all seven of its locations in Androscoggin County. Administrators said they have a fifth classroom at their College Street site they hope to open within the next year, which would add 16 more slots for children ages 3-5.

The Lewiston-based nonprofit is the Head Start and Early Head Start provider for Androscoggin County. The federally-funded programs provide child care services and prekindergarten classes to low-income families, aiming to help children from disadvantaged backgrounds succeed in school.

In addition to educational services, the center also helps families access health and dental care, and identify special needs in children early. About two-thirds of children’s daily nutritional needs are provided by the center, according to Executive Director Betsy Norcross Plourde.

And, by providing free child care, parents are able to pursue education and work opportunities.

Child Development Director Monica Redlevske said Promise Early Education Center takes a two-generational approach to supporting children.

“We don’t work just with the child,” she said. “We work with the family as well, because to really make change and to move the needle for a family, you’ve got to encompass the whole human. You can’t just do work on a little piece six hours a day and expect the same outcomes that if we were working with the family and helping them move and grow as well. That’s for me, what makes a difference.”

Outside of the classroom, staff do home visits, have parent-teacher conferences and hold monthly parent committee meetings to help educate families about supporting their child’s development, Redlevske said.

Although nearly a third of children in the programs have special needs and/or speak a language other than English at home, Redlevske said more than 90% of those they serve meet age expectations.

“I fundamentally believe that Head Start changes children and families’ lives,” she said. “I believe that when we send our kids to (elementary school) that they don’t stand out in the way that you might expect. They look like their middle-income peers with what they know and what they’re able to do, in ways that that’s really the Head Start.”

Downtown Lewiston has one of the highest rates of poverty in the state, if not the highest, Plourde said, adding that the need for affordable child care programs is high. All of the center’s programs are fully enrolled and have waiting lists, she said.

Still, Plourde encouraged qualifying families to apply despite the waiting lists. The center uses a points-based system to determine the order of the waiting list, she said, meaning children from families with the highest need will be prioritized and may be bumped to the top of the list.

Most of the center’s programs are free but some, including extended-day child care services, require a fee.

The nonprofit is primarily funded by the federal government, but also receives financial support from the state and nonprofit organizations.

The Choice Neighborhoods redevelopment project is an initiative to transform and revitalize downtown Lewiston. In 2021, the city was awarded a $30 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to overhaul public housing and inject additional private investment into the Tree Streets neighborhood, including expanding Promise Early Education Center.

The center supports early childhood education and prekindergarten programs at its main office on Bates Street, at Connors Elementary School on Bartlett Street and Hillview Apartments on Rideout Avenue. It also has programs at the Family Development Center on Valerie Circle and in the former Webster Grammar School, both in Auburn, and at Spruce Mountain Primary School in Livermore.

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